How Cox Media Group Powers Dynamic Messaging With Surveys

Whether one considers the survey time-tested or old-fashioned, advertisers and media companies still use voice-of-the-customer tools and techniques to tweak their messaging.

Atlanta-based Cox Media Group, for instance, operates 80 websites, four major newspapers, 11 television stations and a slew of radio stations. The media company, which relies on a range of analytics tools including Google and Adobe Analytics and Chartbeat, needed a dynamic survey tool in order to create and optimize content based on individual visitor interest.

“We wanted to get our research responses into Adobe Analytics, so we could slice and dice hairs on-site, and we were one of the first clients to push (dynamic survey vendor) Qualtrics for an integration (to the analytics platform),” said Heather Blythe, senior manager of analytics and insights at Cox Media Group.

As part of a series of roll-outs for premium subscriber sites, Cox newspaper groups launched a number of replica and breaking news apps for iOS and Android devices.

If a user visits AtlantaJournalConstitution.com on an Apple device, for instance, SiteIntercept triggers a prompt to download the newspaper’s breaking news app for iPhone or iPad. “Then the intercept would take you right to the app store for download,” Blythe said.

Although Cox first initiated mobile-app install messaging for the newspaper group using infobars and popovers tailored for particular devices, radio has experienced the most success (and TV will use the same methodology when mobile apps are deployed soon).

“Depending on the market, you might vote for what song to hear next or you can also record messages that might be played on air, sign up to get text messages or push alerts when a certain song will come on air,” she said. “We had a high success rate (with Tampa, Fla., radio station 97X) that helped drive double-digit increases to app downloads during that time.

Blythe noted the use cases are diverse. In some instances, the KPI is user-based, like content consumption rates of digital subscribers vs. nondigital subscribers (this affects pricing and product offers). Others are content-driven, and seek to increase site or mobile engagement.

“We’re working on best practices and limitations – (determining) when (we should or) shouldn’t do the same type of promotion for ‘x’ amount of time,” Blythe said. “If someone’s satisfied on-site, we want to know are they reading certain content? How many page views per visit are they consuming?” Using dynamic surveying, “we didn’t have to use valuable ad space or disrupt the user experience on-site to flight our surveys.”